AWARD-WINNING MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER NITIN SAWHNEY COMBINES ASIAN AND OTHER WORLDWIDE INFLUENCES WITH ELEMENTS OF JAZZ AND ELECTRONIC TO CREATE SUBLIMINAL MUSIC. HE HAS JUST CONCLUDED ‘JOURNEYS’, A CONCERT AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL TO CELEBRATE 150 YEARS OF IMMIGRATION. SAWHNEY EXPLORES THEMES OF MULTICULTURALISM, POLITICS AND SPIRITUALITY THROUGH HIS MUSIC. HE HAS RELEASED HIS NEW ALBUM ‘IMMIGRANTS’.
WORDS: Tina Edward Gunawardhana
Why do you love to travel?
They say travel broadens the mind. There is so much to learn from visiting different cultures and traditions, not only musically but in every way. Through travel I’ve had the fortune to meet and interview Nelson Mandela, visit aboriginal Australians in their homelands, meet native Americans on a mountain near Sacramento and work with Brazilian children at a street shelter in Brazil. I have had so many wonderful memories and experiences through travelling that I have lost count of them all! Most of all, I have witnessed the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises.
Which country has been your favourite destination?
Visiting India gives me the opportunity to catch up with relatives and also to stay at some beautiful and healing retreats that are both rejuvenating and healing. I also always feel that travelling to India gives me a greater sense of my heritage and puts me directly in touch with my ancestry. There are so many other countries I love but India has an incredibly emotional pull for me. The land and music is in my blood.
In which country have you felt most at home?
I feel my home is in my heart and mind and I carry the feeling of home with me everywhere. Even on a stage on the other side of the world.
What is the most unusual souvenir you have brought home?
A gifted bow and set of arrows from Amerindians in the Amazon back in the nineties. Bizarrely, I was stopped at U.K. customs who searched my bags but comically failed to notice I had a bow and sling of arrows on my back! Kept them for a while but sadly lost them when I moved years ago.
What has been your worst holiday or travel experience?
One time I went to LA and was badly sick on the plane. I was subsequently marched to the hospital straight off the plane, aggressively deprived of my passport and wallet by immigration officials, charged $200 that I didn’t have on me and kept standing for 6 hours in an empty room whilst I had food poisoning, for which my treatment was to be discharged with two glasses of water. I then waited another 3 hours, sick as a dog, to retrieve my confiscated documents and dosh.
